Hongdae Seoul restaurant, 6:20pm walk-in monjayaki set for two: Jojo

I'd been craving the monjayaki I ate in Japan, so my husband and I went out to Jojo Yeonnam Branch for dinner.

I'd been looking for okonomiyaki or monjayaki in Yeonnam-dong and ended up here — the moment I walked in and saw a griddle built into every table, it brought back the teppanyaki vibe from Japan.

If you're hunting for a good okonomiyaki or monjayaki spot around Hongdae/Yeonnam-dong, this might be worth checking out.

Where is Jojo Yeonnam Branch, and what are the hours?

📌 Location 1F, 255-1 Donggyo-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Jojo Yeonnam Branch

📌 Hours Daily 11:30–22:00 Break time 15:20–17:00

Is there a wait at 6:20pm on a weekday?

We got there around 6:20pm on a weekday and luckily got seated right away with no wait.

But not long after we sat down, more and more people started coming in, and a line began forming.

If you're planning to come for dinner, it might be worth arriving a bit before 6:30pm.

Inside Jojo Yeonnam Branch: tabletop griddles at every seat

Jojo specializes in okonomiyaki and yakisoba.

The restaurant isn't huge, but the mix of bar tables and regular tables meant the layout could actually seat more people together than I expected.

What caught my eye most was that every single table had its own griddle built in.

Since the food gets cooked right there on the griddle, just sitting down made me nostalgic for the teppanyaki I'd had while traveling in Japan — kind of gave me butterflies, haha.

The menu: monjayaki set for two, with soba swapped to karai

They have both à la carte items and set menus. Rather than picking things one by one, we went with the monjayaki set for two, which looked like a good combo.

We ordered the set as-is without adding toppings, but since you can choose the type of soba, we picked karai (spicy) yakisoba.

Mentaiko monjayaki: pollack roe and mochi

The mentaiko monjayaki comes with mentaiko (seasoned pollack roe) and mochi.

All the ingredients arrived together, and the staff cooked it right on our tabletop griddle, so we got to just sit back and watch.

As the ingredients cooked on the griddle, a savory smell rose up, and my appetite was already kicking in at that point.

Once finished, the monjayaki hit first with the salty umami of the mentaiko, and the parts that crisped up against the griddle were slightly crunchy while the inside stayed soft and moist.

The mochi scattered throughout turned out to be a quiet highlight.

Getting a chewy, stretchy bite of mochi in the middle of the soft monjayaki made each mouthful more fun.

With that distinct salty tang of mentaiko too, it was a dish I kept reaching for.

Volcano potato: mashed potato with a soft-boiled egg

Volcano potato is mashed potato topped with a soft-boiled egg.

At first I worried the mild, soft potato might feel a bit plain next to the monjayaki, but once I mixed in the fried onion chips that came with it — the umami, what even is this??

The fluffy, creamy potato mixed with the moist soft-boiled yolk, plus the crunchy onion chips on top, gave a combo of softness and crunch all at once.

A little dab of the whole-grain mustard on top added a light popping texture from the mustard seeds and a subtle kick, giving it yet another dimension of flavor.

Personally, eating volcano potato between bites of monjayaki felt like it reset the saltiness in my mouth each time — I got why they put it in the set.

Karai yakisoba: spicy sauce and chewy noodles

The dish I liked best out of this whole meal was the karai yakisoba.

Maybe because I love spicy food, but it really suited my taste.

The noodles had a springy, chewy bite, and the sauce was salty upfront with a spicy kick following behind.

It wasn't just spicy for the sake of it — there was that deep, rich yakisoba sauce flavor too, so I kept picking up more noodles.

Alternating between the salty, umami-heavy mentaiko monjayaki and a bite of the spicy karai yakisoba felt like the spice was refreshing my palate each time — the two dishes worked really well together.

If you're someone who likes spicy food like us, I'd recommend ordering the karai yakisoba too.

Final verdict on Jojo Yeonnam Branch

I went looking for the monjayaki I remembered from Japan, and between watching it get cooked right at our table and enjoying the texture of the food, it turned out to be a fun meal.

If you're in Yeonnam-dong craving Japanese teppanyaki, okonomiyaki, or monjayaki, this is a place worth stopping by.